Method of processing anchor user plane function (UPF) for local offloading in 5G cellular network

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a communication scheme and a system thereof for converging an IoT technology and a 5G communication system for supporting a high data transmission rate beyond that of a 4G system. The present disclosure can be applied to intelligent services (for example, services related to a smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, retail business, security, and safety) based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology. The present disclosure relates to a method of processing an anchor UPF for local offloading when a UE moves in a 5G cellular wireless communication system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is based on and claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2017-0102882, filed onAug. 14, 2017, and Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2017-0136422,filed on Oct. 20, 2017 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, theentire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to a method, and moreparticularly to a method of processing an anchor user plane function(UPF) for local offloading when a user equipment (UE) moves in a 5Gcellular wireless communication system.

2. Description of the Related Art

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased sincedeployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made todevelop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5Gor pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a‘Post LTE System’. The 5G communication system is considered to beimplemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, soas to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of theradio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming,massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO(FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antennatechniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5Gcommunication systems, development for system network improvement isunder way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks(RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication,wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication,coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellationand the like. In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) andsliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced codingmodulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonalmultiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as anadvanced access technology have been developed.

The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network wherehumans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the internetof things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange andprocess information without human intervention. The internet ofeverything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and theBig Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server,has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”,“wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “serviceinterface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded forIoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine-to-machine (M2M)communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have beenrecently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligentInternet technology services that create a new value to human life bycollecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT maybe applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building,smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smartappliances and advanced medical services through convergence andcombination between existing information technology (IT) and variousindustrial applications.

In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5Gcommunication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such asa sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented bybeamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as theabove-described Big Data processing technology may also be considered tobe as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoTtechnology.

A method of adding or removing the anchor UPF may vary depending on theexistence or non-existence of a non-access stratum (NAS) signalingconnection between the UE and the access and mobility managementfunction (AMF) of the 5G network (divided into a CM-IDLE or CM-CONNECTEDstate). When an N9 tunnel between the anchor UPF and a branching point(BP) or uplink (UL) classifier (UL CL) UPF in charge of traffic routingis maintained for the UE in the CM-IDLE state, overhead (e.g., an amountof backhaul traffic forwarded from a local server) may be generatedsince data transmission with the anchor UPF should be maintained throughaddition of an intermediate UPF in order to guarantee session continuityeven though the UE leaves a service area of the anchor UPF.Particularly, as the UE is farther away from the service area of theanchor UPF, overhead according to the addition of the intermediate UPFmay be large. This may be against the purpose of reducing backhaultraffic within the cellular network through local offloading by placingthe anchor UPF close to the UE.

In order to facilitate evolution from the conventional 4G long-termevolution (LTE) system to the 5G system, a 3GPP in charge of cellularmobile communication standards has named a new core network structure asa 5G core (5GC) and standardized it.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to address at least thedisadvantages described above and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below.

The present disclosure relates to a procedure including signalingbetween network entities within a 5G core network in order to add theanchor UPF to a PDU session or remove the anchor UPF from the PDUsession if the UE which sets up the PDU session for a specific datanetwork name (DNN) (e.g., Internet) moves to the area or leaves the areawhen a 5G cellular network service provider installs an anchor UPF forlocal offloading in a specific area. Further, the present disclosureprovides a method of notifying the UE of the addition and the removal ofthe anchor UPF.

According to the present disclosure, when a local server (e.g., acontent/multimedia server) installed on cache content for each area inthe 5G cellular network and an anchor UPF which can communicate with thelocal server are arranged, overhead from using a local offloadingsolution for each area can be reduced even though the UE frequentlymoves by applying a UL CL solution or an IPv6 multi-homing solution tosome traffic of the conventionally set up PDU session and theperformance of traffic offloading can be increased by controlling anamount of offloaded traffic in the corresponding actual area.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method isprovided. The method includes allocating a first PDU session anchor to aPDU session for establishing the PDU session on a UE, adding a secondPDU session anchor for local offloading of the PDU session, controllingthe first PDU session anchor based on a service and session continuity(SSC) mode of the PDU session, and controlling the second PDU sessionanchor independently of the SSC mode of the PDU session.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus isprovided. The apparatus includes a transceiver and a controller coupledwith the transceiver. The controller is configured to allocate a firstPDU session anchor to a PDU session for establishing the PDU session ona UE, add a second PDU session anchor for local offloading of the PDUsession, control the first PDU session anchor based on a SSC mode of thePDU session, and control the second PDU session anchor independently ofthe SSC mode of the PDU session.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a network structure and an interface of a 5Gcellular system, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a network structure, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a network structure, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a case in which a UE moves between areas,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart of an internal operation of a session managementfunction (SMF), according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart of an internal operation of the SMF, according toan embodiment;

FIG. 5C is a flowchart of an internal operation of the UE receiving anotification, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an internal operation of the UE receiving anotification, according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams of an Xn-based handover procedure,according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedure,according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedure,according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedure,according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams of a service request procedure, accordingto an embodiment;

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams of a service request procedure, accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an network (NW) triggered service requestprocedure in the 5G cellular network, according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are diagrams of a registration procedure in the 5Gcellular network, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of a registration procedure, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a registration, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram of an operation of the UPF when a data packethaving an invalidated IPv6 prefix configured as a departure IP addressarrives at the UPF from which an IP header can be identified, accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of an operation of the SMF receiving anotification message for the use of the invalid IP address from the UPF,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram of a structure of the UE, according to anembodiment; and

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a structure of the base station (BS), accordingto an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure will be described herein below withreference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments of thedisclosure are not limited to the specific embodiments and should beconstrued as including all modifications, changes, equivalent devicesand methods, and/or alternative embodiments of the present disclosure.In the description of the drawings, similar reference numerals are usedfor similar elements.

The terms “have,” “may have,” “include,” and “may include” as usedherein indicate the presence of corresponding features (for example,elements such as numerical values, functions, operations, or parts), anddo not preclude the presence of additional features.

The terms “A or B,” “at least one of A or/and B,” or “one or more of Aor/and B” as used herein include all possible combinations of itemsenumerated with them. For example, “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,”or “at least one of A or B” means (1) including at least one A, (2)including at least one B, or (3) including both at least one A and atleast one B.

The terms such as “first” and “second” as used herein may usecorresponding components regardless of importance or an order and areused to distinguish a component from another without limiting thecomponents. These terms may be used for the purpose of distinguishingone element from another element. For example, a first user device and asecond user device indicates different user devices regardless of theorder or importance. For example, a first element may be referred to asa second element without departing from the scope the disclosure, andsimilarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element.

It will be understood that, when an element (for example, a firstelement) is “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to” or“connected to” another element (for example, a second element), theelement may be directly coupled with/to another element, and there maybe an intervening element (for example, a third element) between theelement and another element. To the contrary, it will be understoodthat, when an element (for example, a first element) is “directlycoupled with/to” or “directly connected to” another element (forexample, a second element), there is no intervening element (forexample, a third element) between the element and another element.

The expression “configured to (or set to)” as used herein may be usedinterchangeably with “suitable for,” “having the capacity to,” “designedto,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of” according to a context.The term “configured to (set to)” does not necessarily mean“specifically designed to” in a hardware level. Instead, the expression“apparatus configured to . . . ” may mean that the apparatus is “capableof . . . ” along with other devices or parts in a certain context. Forexample, “a processor configured to (set to) perform A, B, and C” maymean a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor) for performinga corresponding operation, or a generic-purpose processor (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU) or an application processor (AP)) capableof performing a corresponding operation by executing one or moresoftware programs stored in a memory device.

The terms used in describing the various embodiments of the disclosureare for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are notintended to limit the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. All of the terms used herein including technical orscientific terms have the same meanings as those generally understood byan ordinary skilled person in the related art unless they are definedotherwise. Terms defined in a generally used dictionary should beinterpreted as having the same or similar meanings as the contextualmeanings of the relevant technology and should not be interpreted ashaving ideal or exaggerated meanings unless they are clearly definedherein. According to circumstances, even the terms defined in thisdisclosure should not be interpreted as excluding the embodiments of thedisclosure.

The term “module” as used herein may, for example, mean a unit includingone of hardware, software, and firmware or a combination of two or moreof them. The “module” may be interchangeably used with, for example, theterm “unit”, “logic”, “logical block”, “component”, or “circuit”. The“module” may be a minimum unit of an integrated component element or apart thereof. The “module” may be a minimum unit for performing one ormore functions or a part thereof. The “module” may be mechanically orelectronically implemented. For example, the “module” according to thedisclosure may include at least one of an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA),and a programmable-logic device for performing operations which has beenknown or are to be developed hereinafter.

An electronic device according to the disclosure may include at leastone of, for example, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), amobile phone, a video phone, an electronic book reader (e-book reader),a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a workstation, a server,a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP),a MPEG-1 audio layer-3 (MP3) player, a mobile medical device, a camera,and a wearable device. The wearable device may include at least one ofan accessory type (e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, an anklet, anecklace, a glasses, a contact lens, or a head-mounted device (HMD)), afabric or clothing integrated type (e.g., an electronic clothing), abody-mounted type (e.g., a skin pad, or tattoo), and a bio-implantabletype (e.g., an implantable circuit).

The electronic device may be a home appliance. The home appliance mayinclude at least one of, for example, a television, a digital video disk(DVD) player, an audio, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuumcleaner, an oven, a microwave oven, a washing machine, an air cleaner, aset-top box, a home automation control panel, a security control panel,a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™), a gameconsole (e.g., Xbox™ and PlayStation™), an electronic dictionary, anelectronic key, a camcorder, and an electronic photo frame.

The electronic device may include at least one of various medicaldevices (e.g., various portable medical measuring devices (a bloodglucose monitoring device, a heart rate monitoring device, a bloodpressure measuring device, a body temperature measuring device, etc.), amagnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), a computed tomography (CT) machine, and an ultrasonic machine), anavigation device, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, an eventdata recorder (EDR), a flight data recorder (FDR), a vehicleinfotainment device, an electronic device for a ship (e.g., a navigationdevice for a ship, and a gyro-compass), avionics, security devices, anautomotive head unit, a robot for home or industry, an automatic tellermachine (ATM) in banks, point of sales (POS) devices in a shop, or anInternet of things (IoT) device (e.g., a light bulb, various sensors,electric or gas meter, a sprinkler device, a fire alarm, a thermostat, astreetlamp, a toaster, a sporting goods, a hot water tank, a heater, aboiler, etc.).

The electronic device may include at least one of a part of furniture ora building/structure, an electronic board, an electronic signaturereceiving device, a projector, and various kinds of measuringinstruments (e.g., a water meter, an electric meter, a gas meter, and aradio wave meter). The electronic device may be a combination of one ormore of the aforementioned various devices. The electronic device mayalso be a flexible device. Further, the electronic device is not limitedto the aforementioned devices, and may include an electronic deviceaccording to the development of new technology.

Hereinafter, an electronic device will be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings. In the disclosure, the term “user” indicatesa person using an electronic device or a device (e.g., an artificialintelligence electronic device) using an electronic device.

Hereinafter, a BS is the entity that allocates resources to a UE, andmay be one of an eNode B, a Node B, a BS, a RAN, a radio access unit, abase station controller, and a node on a network. The UE may include aUE, a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet, acomputer, and a multimedia system capable of performing a communicationfunction. Herein, DL refers to a wireless transmission path of a signalthat the BS transmits to the UE, and UL refers to a wirelesstransmission path of a signal that the UE transmits to the BS.

The 5GC supports differentiated functions compared to an evolved packetcore (EPC), which is a network core for the conventional 4G.

One differentiated function is a network slice function. In requirementsof 5G, the 5GC should support various UE types and services (e.g.,enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra reliable low latencycommunications (URLLC), massive machine type communications (mMTC)). TheUEs/services have different requirements for the core network. Forexample, the eMBB service requires a high data rate and the URLLCservice requires high stability and low latency. A technology proposedto meet such various service requirements is the network slice scheme.The network slice is a method of virtualizing one physical network togenerate several logical networks, and network slice instances (NSIs)may have different characteristics. This is possible because each NSIhas a network function (NF) suitable for the characteristic thereof.Various 5G services may be efficiently supported by allocating the NSIsuitable for the service characteristic required for each UE.

Supporting a network virtualization paradigm is easy through division ofa mobility management function and a session management function. In theconventional 4G LTE, all UEs may receive services over the networkthrough a signaling exchange with a single core equipment that is amobile management entity (MME) in charge of registration,authentication, mobility management, and session management functions.However, when the single equipment such as the MME supports allfunctions as the number of UEs explosively increases and mobility andtraffic/session characteristics, which should be supported according tothe UE type, are subdivided in the 5G, scalability for adding entitiesaccording to each of required functions cannot help being reduced.Accordingly, various functions are developed based on a structure ofdividing a mobility management function and a session managementfunction in order to improve a function/implementation complexity of acore equipment serving a control plane and expandability in the light ofsignaling load.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a network architecture and an interface of a 5Gcellular system, according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, an AMF for managing mobility and networkregistration of the UE and an SMF for managing an end-to-end session areseparated and may exchange signaling through an N11 interface.

An SSC mode is introduced to support requirements of variouscontinuities of applications or services of the UE and use of a PDUsession-specific SSC mode. The SSC mode includes three modes. SSC mode 1is a mode in which an anchor UPF (or a PDU session anchor (PSA)) that isa communication contact with an external data network (DN) is notchanged while the corresponding session is maintained including when theUE moves, and the session continuity can be guaranteed since an IPaddress/prefix allocated to the corresponding session is not changed.SSC modes 2 and 3 allow the change (relocation) of the anchor UPF.However, SSC modes 2 and 3 may differ in that, while the connection withthe anchor UPF should be immediately disconnected and then theconnection with a new anchor UPF should be established in SSC mode 2when the anchor UPF is changed, the connection with the existing anchorUPF can be maintained while the connection with the new anchor UPF isestablished in SSC mode 3. Accordingly, in the SSC mode 3 session, datacan be simultaneously transmitted through a plurality of anchor UPFs forthe same external data network. However, since the SSC mode 2 sessioncorresponds to break-before-make, overhead for signaling betweenentities and tunnel management is small in a core network but serviceinterruption may occur if the anchor UPF is changed at a time point atwhich traffic of the UE is transmitted.

A policy control function (PCF) is included, which is a server thatmanages a service provider policy for the UE and may store a policy formaking a request for and selecting a session for each UE and provide thepolicy to the UE, so that the service provider can use it for routingtraffic of the UE. The policy is named a UE route selection policy(URSP). Particularly, the URSP may include a network slice selectionpolicy (NSSP) for supporting the network slicing technology, an SSC modeselection policy (SSCMSP) for supporting the SSC mode, and a DNNselection policy for selecting a DNN corresponding to an access pointname (APN) used by the EPC. The URSP may be managed while being pairedwith a traffic filter for specifying a rule for particular traffic. Fortransmission of the URSP from the PCF to the UE, the PCP may firsttransmit it to the AMF through an standard interface (e.g., N15) and theAMF may transfer the UE-specific URSP through a standard interface(e.g., N1) by non-access stratum (NAS) signaling with the UE.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a network structure showing an applicationexample of a UL CL solution that provides a function of local-offloadingsome traffic to a place close to the location of the UE by allocatingone IPv4 address to a PDU session heading for the same DNN in a 5Gcellular network, according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, another function is to provide a solution for localoffloading. When a single IP address is allocated to a specific sessionof the UE, a function of dividing UL traffic of the UE through the UPFthat is a UL CL or adding DL traffic heading for the UE may be provided.Particularly, in order to offload some traffic of the session to a localserver close to the location of the UE, the SMF may configure a (e.g.,5-tuple-based) traffic rule in the UL CL UPF. Based on the traffic rule,the UL CL UPF may re-route some traffic to the local server to betransparent to the UE.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a network structure showing an applicationexample of a BP solution that provides a function for local-offloadingsome traffic of the PDU session heading for the same DNN to the placeclose to the location of the UE by allocating different IPV6 prefixes torespective IP anchor UPFs for the PDU Session in IPv6 type, according toan embodiment.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 3, 5GC may provide a multi-homing functionto the PDU session in the IPv6 type in which a plurality of IPv6prefixes are allocated to one PDU session and the UE may perform datacommunication using a proper IPv6 prefix. Similar to the UL CL UPF, a BPUPF may divide or add traffic based on a traffic rule. However, the UEmay determine traffic to be local-offloaded by selecting the IPv6 prefixallocated to the UE. For the determination of routing by the UE, the SMFmay add a route information option proposed in the document IETF RFC4191 to an IPv6 router advertisement message and transmit the IPv6router advertisement message to the UE through UP signaling via a datapath of the corresponding PDU session.

In the 5G cellular network, a technique for edge computing that is alocal area data network (LADN) is supported. Specifically, the techniqueis a method by which the network provides data network informationavailable in an area in which the UE is currently located and the UEgenerates a data network session which can be used in the correspondingarea using the provided available data network information and, when theUE leaves an area in which transmission/reception of the data session ispossible, releases or temporarily stops (or deactivate) the generatedsession. This is a technique implemented when the UE sets up a new PDUsession for the LADN which is different from a method described below.Further, in the LTE system, all IP traffic from the UE ends at a PDN-GW.In addition, local IP access (LIPA) and selected IP traffic offloading(SIPTO) are proposed to place the IP anchor close to the UE in order toimprove a delay in a backhaul network. Similarly, this is different fromthe method described below in the light of configuring a new PDNconnection by the UE.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a case in which a UE moves between areas, when ananchor UPF (corresponding to PSA1) covering a wide area for datacommunication with a specific DNN (e.g., Internet) and anchor UPFs(corresponding to PSA2 and PSA3) covering some areas in which a localserver belonging to the DNN is arranged are disposed, the UE moves froman area A0 to an area A2 via A1, according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, a scheme of maintaining or releasing the anchor UPFfor the PDU session in which a data transmission path including theanchor UPF is configured when the UE moves to enter or leave a servicearea (A1 or A2) of an anchor UPF (PSA2 or PSA3) installed forcommunication with a local server in the 5G cellular network, isdescribed. Even though the anchor UPF for local offloading is released,the anchor UPF (PSA1) that provides a wider service area (A0) should becontinuously maintained for the data transmission path of the PDUsession. The movement of the UE may refer to a change in the BS whichthe UE accesses.

Leaving the service area of the anchor UPF for local offloading forcommunication with the local server may be defined in detail as follows.When the UE moves to the BS installed within the service area of theanchor UPF, the UPF and the BS have connectivity therebetween. When theUE moves to the BS which is not included in the service area of the UPF,the UPF and the BS do not have connectivity therebetween. This can beapplied when the anchor UPF coexists with the BS. Further, whenconnection between the UPF and the BS is limited due to dynamicconditions such as a service provider policy or a load state of theanchor UPF even though the UPF and the BS can be physically connectedthrough, the Internet may be included in the range of non-connectivity.In addition, as mentioned in the handover procedure of the document 3GPPTS 23.401 that defines the EPC standards, when there is no direct IPconnectivity between the two entities may be included in the range ofnon-connectivity. The service area of the anchor UPF may be preset inthe SMF by a service provider local policy or dynamically allocated by aPCF that controls a policy of the session after the PDU session is setup.

The SMF may separately manage an additional anchor UPF for localoffloading for each DNN and an original anchor UPF for connection with aspecific DN such as an Internet network which is not for localoffloading when the PDU session is initially made. The original anchorUPF may operate to link with an SSC mode. When the UE moves and leavesthe service area of the original anchor UPF, an intermediate UPF may beadded for session continuity. Further, for the PDU session correspondingto SSC mode 2/3, the original anchor UPF may be changed to a new anchorUPF which can cover the current location of the UE. However, when the UEmoves and leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF, theadditional anchor UPF may be released from the corresponding PDU sessionby the SMF and only the original anchor UPF may be left. In other words,the additional anchor UPF may operate regardless of the SSC mode. Inaddition, when the location to which the UE moves is included in aservice area of another additional anchor UPF, a new additional anchorUPF may be added. When the SMF separately manages two types of anchorUPFs, the SMF may notify the UE of the classification. Particularly, forthe PDU session in which an IP address (including an IPv6 prefix) isallocated for each anchor UPF, information indicating whether the anchorUPF associated with an IP address pertains to the original anchor UPF orthe additional anchor UPF may be provided when the IP address isallocated to the UE. Further, when the anchor UPF is added to or changedin the PDU session of the UE, information indicating where thecorresponding anchor UPF pertains to may be provided. When the anchorUPF is added, the notification may be provided by transmitting anindicator indicating whether the anchor UPF is the original anchor UPFor the additional anchor UPF to the UE.

The anchor UPF may be named a PDU session anchor or a PDA. Further, theadditional anchor UPF and the original anchor UPF may be differentlynamed.

The IPv6 prefix corresponds to the PDU session in the IPv6 type. TheIPv6 prefix may be replaced with an IPv4 address if the PDU session inthe IPv4 type is used in cellular system in which IPv4 multi-homing issupported.

In FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 6, an internal operation of the SMF and aninternal operation of the UE is described. The SMF may manageinformation on a service area of the additional anchor UPF for localoffloading for each DNN of the PDU session which the UE sets up.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart of an internal operation of an SMF for adding anadditional anchor UPF when the UE enters a service area of theadditional anchor UPF for local offloading for a PDU session, accordingto an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5A, when the UE moves and is informed that the UEenters the service are of the additional anchor UPF for local offloadingmanaged by the SMF from the AMF at step 501, the SMF may determinewhether a new location of the UE is an area in which the additionalanchor UPF can provide a service at step 503. When it is determined thatthe UE does not enter the service area of the additional anchor UPF, theSMF maintains the PDU session by the original anchor UPF at step 505.When it is determined that the UE enters the service area of theadditional anchor UPF, the SMF may add the additional anchor UPF to theexisting PDU session of the UE supporting a DNN which is the same asthat supported by the additional anchor UPF at step 507. When adding theadditional anchor UPF to the PDU session, the SMF may newly registerservice area information for receiving a notification of the change inthe UE location for the corresponding PDU session in the AMF. Theservice area information to be registered in the AMF may be acquiredbased on the service area of the additional anchor UPF. The SMF mayinform the UE of the addition of the additional anchor UPF to the PDUsession at step 509. Thereafter, the SMF determines whether the originalanchor UPF of the corresponding PDU session can service the currentlocation of the UE at step 511. That is, it is determined whether anintermediate UPF is needed. When the SMF determines that the originalanchor UPF of the corresponding PDU session can service the new locationof the UE, the SMF may establish an N3 tunnel for connecting the BSwhich the UE currently accesses and the original anchor UPF at step 513.Further, the additional anchor UPF may be used as a UL CL/BP UPF.However, when it is determined that the original anchor UPF cannotservice the new location of the UE, the SMF may add a new intermediateUPF between the original anchor UPF and the BS which the UE accesses toguarantee session continuity at step 515.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart of an internal operation of the SMF for releasingthe additional anchor UPF when the UE leaves the service area of theadditional anchor UPF for local offloading for the PDU session,according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5B, when the UE moves and is notified that the UEleaves the registered service area from the AMF at step 521, the SMF maydetermine whether the new location of the UE is an area in which theadditional anchor UPF can provide a service at step 523. When the newlocation is the area in which the additional anchor UPF can provide aservice, the SMF may allow the additional anchor UPF to maintain localoffloading for the PDU session at step 525. On the other hand, when itis determined that the UE leaves the service area of the additionalanchor UPF, the SMF may release the additional anchor UPF from thecorresponding PDU session at step 527. When there is an IP addresslinked to the released additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anotification to prevent the UE to use the IP address at step 529. Whenthe additional anchor UPF performs a BP or UL CL function, the BP or ULCL function may be also released. Thereafter, the SMF may determinewhether the intermediate UPF is still needed at step 531. When theintermediate UPF is still need, the SMF may maintain an N9 tunnelbetween the intermediate UPF and the original anchor UPF for the PDUsession at step 533. When the intermediate UPF is not needed, the SMFmay remove the N9 tunnel between the intermediate UPF and the originalanchor UPF for the PDU session and release the intermediate UPF at step535.

In addition, when the BS which the UE accesses is changed due tomovement of the UE and thus the UE leaves the service area of theexisting additional anchor UPF allocated within a specific PDU sessionand the UE enters a service area of a new additional anchor UPFbelonging to the PDU session, the UE may release the existing additionalanchor UPF in the PDU session and add the new additional anchor UPF atthe same time. The change (relocation) of the additional anchor UPF maybe also applied to the following embodiments.

FIG. 5C is a flowchart of an internal operation of the UE receiving thenotification when the SMF adds the additional anchor UPF for localoffloading for the PDU session and transmits a notification to the UE,according to an embodiment.

The UE may receive a notification message about the addition of theadditional anchor UPF for the PDU session from the SMF at step 540. Thenotification message may include PDU session identification information(e.g., PDU session ID), additional anchor UPF identificationinformation, and a traffic rule for local offloading (e.g., 5-tuple).The UE having received the notification message may update the IPaddress linked to the additional anchor UPF of the corresponding PDUsession in its own routing table and transmit traffic through the IPaddress for the traffic that matches the traffic rule for localoffloading at step 545.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an internal operation of the UE receiving thenotification when the SMF releases the additional anchor UPF for localoffloading from the PDU session and transmits a notification to the UE,according to an embodiment.

The UE may receive a notification message about the release of theadditional anchor UPF for the PDU session from the SMF at step 600. Thenotification message may include PDU session identification information(e.g., PDU session ID) and additional anchor UPF identificationinformation. The UE having received the notification message may releasethe IP address linked to the additional anchor UPF of the correspondingPDU session and may not use the corresponding IP address any more fornew traffic at step 605.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams of an Xn-based handover procedure includinga process of adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to or fromthe PDU session when the UE performs the handover, according to anembodiment.

In FIGS. 7A-7B, an Xn-based handover procedure including a process ofadding or releasing the additional anchor UPF for local offloading tothe PDU session when the UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs thehandover is described. The UE in the CM-CONNECTED state which canperform a signal exchange through the setup of NAS signaling connectionwith the AMF of the 5G core network may be in a state in which the UEhas set up at least one PDU session with at least one (original) anchorUPF including the PDU session.

Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, when the UE in the CM-CONNECTED stateperforms the handover through an Xn interface between BSs from a sourceBS to a target BS, the target BS may transmit an N2 path switch requestmessage to the AMF at step 701. The AMF may be informed of thesuccessful handover of the UE to the target BS through the N2 pathswitch request message and a list of PDU sessions (e.g., including PDUsession IDs) successfully switched to the target BS may be transmittedtogether. Further, for a quality of service (QoS) flow switched to thetarget BS, the N2 path switch request message may also include a list ofQoS flows allowed for each PDU session.

Thereafter, the AMF may transmit an N11 message to the SMF in charge ofeach PDU session from the list of PDU sessions included in the N2 pathswitch request at step 702. The N11 message may include UEidentification information, BS identification information (e.g., an RANID or a cell ID), PDU session identification information, UE locationinformation (e.g., identification information in the unit of trackingareas (TAs) to which the target BS belongs), and access typeinformation. When two or more PDU sessions are controlled by differentSMFs, the AMF may separately generate N11 messages and transmit thegenerated messages to the respective SMFs. When network entities of the5G network provide a service interface, the N11 message may be replacedwith an operation of a service provided from the AMF or the SMF.

When it is determined that there is no connectivity with the additionalanchor UPF (e.g., PSA2 of FIG. 7A) for local offloading with the targetBS for the PDU session included in the N11 message, the SMF havingreceived the N11 message may release the additional anchor UPF.Particularly, in an IPv6 Multi-homed PDU session, the SMF mayadditionally generate a message for IPv6 Prefix setup in order toinvalidate an IPv6 Prefix associated with the additional anchor UPF. TheSMF may configure a lifetime of the IPv6 Prefix to be invalidated aszero and transmit an IPv6 router advertisement (RA) message to the UE atstep 703. The IPv6 RA message may be generated by the SMF at a timepoint at which DL data transmission is possible and transmitted to theUE.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session release request to the corresponding UPF at step 704 a. TheN4 session release request may include information for identifying thePDU session of the UE (e.g., an N4 session ID) and a release causevalue. The release cause may indicate that the UE leaves the servicearea of the corresponding UPF. Information for releasing the IPaddress/prefix associated with the corresponding UPF may be alsoincluded. The UPF having received the N4 session release request maydiscard remaining packets of the corresponding PDU session and deletePDU session context including all pieces of tunnel information relatedto the corresponding PDU session and the IP address/prefix. When theanchor UPF successfully completes the release of the PDU sessioncontext, the anchor UPF may generate an N4 session release response totransmit it to the SMF at step 704 b. The N4 session release responsemay include information for identifying the PDU session of the UE suchas the N4 session ID like the N4 session release request message.

Meanwhile, when it is determined that a new additional anchor UPF forlocal offloading can be added at a new location to which the UE movesfor a specific PDU session, the SMF may perform the N4 session setupprocedure with the new additional anchor UPF (e.g., PSA3 of FIG. 7A).Specifically, the SMF may transmit an N4 session establishment requestto the new additional anchor UPF at step 705 a. The N4 sessionestablishment request may include information for identifying the PDUsession as well as information on N4 session context to be installed inthe UPF. The N4 session context information may include a packetdetection rule including information on a rule for identifying a packet(which arrives at the UPF), a forwarding action rule including a ruleabout packet processing (forwarding/drop/buffering), a usage reportingrule for collecting information on packet charging and usage, and a QoSenforcement rule including information on QoS requirements of thecorresponding PDU session (e.g., maximum rate enforcement). In order toidentify the PDU session, the SMF may generate an N4 session ID andstore mapping of the PDU session and the N4 session ID. When the SMFallocates a new IP address/prefix, such information may be alsoincluded.

When the UPF having received the N4 session establishment requestmessage sets up a tunnel for the corresponding PDU session and completesthe establishment of the association with the IP address/prefix, the UPFmay transmit an N4 session establishment response to return thegenerated tunnel identification information (e.g., a tunnel endpoint ID(TEID)) to the SMF at step 705 b. Identification information (e.g., theN4 session ID) generated to identify the corresponding PDU session maybe transmitted.

When the SMF manages the PDU session in which a plurality of anchor UPFsincluding the new additional anchor UPF exist, the SMF may additionallyselect an intermediate UPF (e.g., the target UPF of FIG. 7A) thatprovides a BP/UL CL function for dividing or adding traffic between theBS and the anchor UPF. The intermediate UPF may be selected from UPFshaving connectivity with the target BS and all anchor UPFs, and theselection of the UPF may be performed based on various parameters whichthe SMF can consider such as UE location information, a UPF load state,UPF location information, and UPF capacity. When the SMF selects theintermediate UPF, the SMF may perform the N4 session setup procedurewith the intermediate UPF and perform the N4 session modificationprocedure with the anchor UPFs in order to update a data transmissionpath for the PDU session. Further, the SMF may transmit a (e.g.,5-tuple-based) traffic routing filter rule for the BP/UL CL function tothe intermediate UPF. The N4 session setup procedure may include step706 a in which the SMF transmits N4 session establishment requestsignaling including an identification address of the target BS, anidentification address of the anchor UPF, and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N9 tunnel setup to the intermediate UPF andstep 706 b in which the intermediate UPF transmits N4 sessionestablishment response signaling including an identification address ofthe intermediate UPF and tunnel identification information required bythe intermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setup with the anchor UPF and anidentification address of the intermediate UPF and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N3 tunnel setup with the target BS to theSMF. Thereafter, the SMF may provide information (e.g., theidentification address of the intermediate UPF and the tunnelidentification information) for the N9 tunnel setup with theintermediate UPF to the anchor UPFs (e.g., PSA1 and PSA3 of FIG. 7A)through an N4 session modification procedure at steps 707 a, 707 b, 708a, and 708 b).

Next, the SMF may transmit N2 path switch acknowledge (ACK) messageincluding the PDU session identification information and core network(CN) tunnel information for the N3 tunnel setup between the intermediateUPF and the target BS to the AMF at step 709. The AMF may transmit, tothe target BS, N2 session information (including CN tunnelidentification information of the corresponding PDU session) included inthe N11 message received from the SMF at step 710. When the AMFgenerates a plurality of N11 messages, the AMF may wait for responsemessages for a specific time in order to receive responses to all of theplurality of N11 messages and transmit the gathered response messages tothe target BS at a time.

Thereafter, the target BS may transmit release resources signaling tothe source BS through the Xn interface in order to release UE context atstep 711. The source BS having received the release resources mayidentify the successful handover to the target BS and release resourcesrelated to the UE.

When the new additional anchor UPF is added through the Xn-basedhandover, the UE may be notified of a new IP address/prefix. When anIPv6 Multi-homed PDU session, the SMF may transfer the newly allocatedIPv6 prefix to the UE through the UP path by generating an IPv6 RAmessage together with routing information (e.g., range information of aspecific destination IP address) for local offloading at step 712.

When the SMF changes the intermediate UFP from the source UPF to thetarget UFP, the SMF may generate signaling for releasing the N4 sessionwith the source UPF at a time point at which a timer value set when theN4 session setup with the target UPF is completed at step 706 b expires.The SMF may transmit an N4 session release request message to the sourceUPF together with a release cause at step 713 a and, when the release iscompleted, the source UPF may generate an N4 session release responsemessage in order to transmit it at step 713 b.

The name of the signal message can be changed, and the signal order maybe changed or signaling may be integrated according to requirements suchas handover performance optimization.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedure includinga process of adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to or fromthe PDU session when the UE performs the handover, according to anembodiment.

In FIGS. 8A and 8B an N2-based handover procedure including a process ofadding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to the PDU session whenthe UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs the handover is described. Theprocedure may be implemented when there is no Xn interface between thesource BS and the target BS. The UE in the CM-CONNECTED state in whichan NAS signaling connection with the AMF of the 5G core network ismaintained may have already set up one PDU session with at least one(original) anchor UPF.

Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, the source BS may select a target BSsuitable for the handover of the UE based on a UE feedback (e.g., ameasurement report) and transmit a handover request message includingidentification information of the target BS (e.g., an RAN ID or a cellID) and identification information of the PDU session (e.g., PDU sessionID(s)) which the UE currently uses to the AMF at step 801. The used PDUsession may be a session in which a UL or DL data packet can betransmitted since a user plane (UP) data transmission path has beenalready set up between the UE and the anchor UPF. The AMF may transmit aPDU session handover request message to the SMF for controlling the PDUsession which the UE is using at step 802. When two or more PDU sessionsare controlled by different SMFs, the AMF may separately generate PDUsession handover request messages and transmit the generated messages tothe respective SMFs. When it is determined that the UE located in thetarget BS leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF (PSA2 ofFIG. 8A) for local offloading of the PDU session, the SMF havingreceived the PDU session handover request message may release theadditional anchor UPF. Particularly, when an IPv6 Multi-homed PDUsession, the SMF may additionally generate a message for IPv6 Prefixsetup in order to invalidate an IPv6 Prefix associated with theadditional anchor UPF. The SMF may configure a lifetime of the IPv6Prefix to be invalidated as zero and transmit an IPv6 RA message to theUE. The IPv6 RA message may be generated by the SMF at a time point atwhich DL data transmission is possible and transmitted to the UE.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session release request to the corresponding UPF at step 803 a. TheN4 session release request may include information for identifying thePDU session of the UE (e.g., an N4 session ID) and a release causevalue. The release cause may indicate that the UE leaves the servicearea of the corresponding UPF. Further, information for releasing the IPaddress/prefix associated with the corresponding UPF may be alsoincluded. The UPF having received the N4 session release request maydiscard remaining packets of the corresponding PDU session and deletePDU session context including all pieces of tunnel information relatedto the corresponding PDU session and the IP address/prefix. When the UPFsuccessfully completes the release of the PDU session context, the UPFmay generate an N4 session release response to transmit it to the SMF atstep 803 b. The N4 session release response may include information foridentifying the PDU session of the UE such as the N4 session ID.

Thereafter, an intermediate UPF for making connectivity between thetarget BS and the original anchor UPF (e.g., PSA1 of FIG. 8A) may beselected at step 804. The intermediate UPF may be selected from UPFshaving connectivity with both the target BS and the anchor UPF, and theselection of the UPF may be performed based on various parameters whichthe SMF can consider such as UE location information, a UPF load state,UPF location information, and UPF capacity. When the intermediate UPF isselected, the SMF may perform an N4 session setup procedure with theintermediate UPF in order to update a data transmission path for the PDUsession at steps 805 a and 805 b. The N4 session setup procedure mayinclude a step in which the SMF transmits N4 session establishmentrequest signaling including an identification address of the target BS,an identification address of the anchor UPF, and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N9 tunnel setup to the intermediate UPF, aswell as a step in which the intermediate UPF transmits N4 sessionestablishment response signaling including an identification address ofthe intermediate UPF and tunnel identification information required bythe intermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setup with the anchor UPF and anidentification address of the intermediate UPF and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N3 tunnel setup with the target BS to theSMF.

Next, the SMF may transmit a PDU session handover response messageincluding the PDU session identification information and CN tunnelinformation for the N3 tunnel setup between the intermediate UPF and thetarget BS to the AMF at step 806.

The AMF may transmit a handover request message including the PDUsession handover response message received from the SMF to the target BSat step 807 a. When a plurality of PDU session handover responsemessages are generated, the AMF may wait for the response message for aparticular time in order to receive all of them and transmit thegathered response messages to the target BS at a time. When receivingthe handover request message, the target BS may perform an operation ofallocating resources for the N3 tunnel setup with the intermediate UPFfor the PDU session which can be allocated by the target BS. Further,the target BS may transmit a handover request ACK message including RANtunnel information of the session (e.g., an identification address ofthe target BS and tunnel identification information) together withidentification information of the corresponding session (e.g., the PDUsession ID) to the AMF at step 807 b. The handover request ACK messagemay include identification information of the corresponding session forthe PDU session, which cannot be allowed by the target BS, and a causeindicator.

When receiving the handover request ACK message, the AMF generates amodify PDU session request message and transmits it to the SMF forcontrolling the corresponding PDU session based on identificationinformation of the PDU session at step 808. The modify PDU sessionrequest message may include information which varies depending onwhether the target BS allows the PDU session. For the PDU session whichis allowed by the target BS, RAN tunnel information which the target BSsets up for the N3 tunnel may be included. Thereafter, the SMF mayprovide RAN tunnel information to the intermediate UPF through the N4session modification procedure and complete the N3 tunnel setup at steps809 a and 809 b. Additionally, when the N4 session establishmentprocedure is performed first at steps 805 a and 805 b, the SMF mayperform the N4 session establishment procedure instead of the N4 sessionmodification procedure. Meanwhile, for the PDU session which is notallowed by the target BS, the SMF may perform a request for releasing N3and N9 tunnel resources set up at steps 805 a and 805 b to theintermediate UPF. The SMF may additionally perform the PDU sessionrelease procedure for the PDU session which is not allowed by the targetBS.

Thereafter, the SMF may transmit the modify PDU session response messageto the AMF at step 810. Then, the AMF may transmit a handover commandmessage to the source BS at step 811. The handover command message mayseparately include session identification information that is allowed bythe target BS and session identification information that is not allowedby the target BS. When it is determined to perform the handover to thetarget BS, the source BS transmits the handover command message to theUE at step 812 and the UE performs synchronization with the target BSand transmits a handover confirm message indicating the successfulhandover to the target BS at step 813.

Thereafter, the target BS transmits a handover notify message includingidentification information in the unit of TAs (e.g., a tracking areaidentifier (TAI)) to which the target BS belongs and BS identificationinformation (e.g., an RAN ID or a cell ID) to the AMF at step 814. Whenthe AMF having received the handover notify message manages anactive/inactive state according to the existence or nonexistence of UPconnection for each PDU session of the UE, the AMF transmits, to theactivated PDU session, a handover complete message to the SMFcorresponding to the PDU session at step 815. Meanwhile, when the AMFdoes not manage the UP connection state for each PDU session of the UE,the handover notify message may include identification information ofthe PDU session (e.g., a PDU session ID) for which the target BS sets upthe UP connection. Then, the AMF may transmit the handover completemessage to the corresponding SMF through the PDU session identificationinformation.

The SMF having received the handover complete message may recognize thesuccessful handover. Then, the SMF may determine whether a newadditional anchor UPF for local offloading can be added at the currentlocation of the UE for each PDU session. When the new additional anchorUPF (e.g., PSA3 of FIG. 8B) can be added, the SMF may perform the N4session setup procedure with the corresponding UPF. Specifically, theSMF may transmit an N4 session establishment request to the UPF at step816 a. When the SMF allocates a new IP address/prefix, such informationmay be included together. When the UPF having received the requestmessage sets up a tunnel for the corresponding PDU session and completesestablishment of the association with an IP address/prefix, the UPF maytransmit an N4 session establishment response to the SMF to give ananswer at step 816 b. Identification information (e.g., the N4 sessionID) generated to identify the corresponding PDU session may betransmitted. Alternatively, the N4 session ID may be first generated bythe SMF and then transmitted to the UPF.

When the SMF manages the PDU session in which a plurality of anchor UPFsincluding the new additional anchor UPF exist, the SMF may additionallyselect an intermediate UPF that provides a BP/UL CL function fordividing or adding traffic between the BS and the anchor UPF. When theintermediate UFP (e.g., the target UPF of FIG. 8B) already included inthe PDU session can perform the BP/UL CP function, the SMF may performthe N4 session modification procedure with the intermediate UPF at steps817 a and 817 b. The SMF may transmit not only information required forthe N3 tunnel setup with the target BS but also information required forthe N9 tunnel setup with the new additional anchor UPF to theintermediate UPF. Similarly, the intermediate UPF may return theinformation required for the N9 tunnel setup to be transmitted to thenew anchor UPF. Further, the SMF may transmit a (e.g., 5-tuple-based)routing filter rule for the BP/UL CL function to the intermediate UPF.Thereafter, the SMF may perform the N4 session modification procedure inorder to transmit the N9 tunnel setup information received from theintermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setup with the new additional anchorUPF at steps 818 a and 818 b.

In addition, when the SMF changes the intermediate UFP from the sourceUPF to the target UFP, when a timer value set at a time point at whichthe N4 session setup with the target UPF is completed at step 805 b or809 b, the SMF may generate signaling for releasing the N4 session withthe source UPF. The SMF may transmit an N4 session release requestmessage to the source UPF together with a release cause at step 820 aand, when the release is completed, the source UPF may generate an N4session release response message to give an answer at step 820 b.

In addition, the SMF may transmit ACK in response to the handovercomplete message to the AMF at step 819. The AMF having received the ACKmay transmit a UE context release command message to the source BS inorder to release UE context in the source BS at step 821 a. The sourceBS returns a UE context release complete message to the AMF afterreleasing the UE context at step 821 b.

When the new additional anchor UPF is added through the N2-basedhandover, the UE may be notified of a new IP address/prefix. When theIPv6 Multi-homed PDU session, the SMF may generate an IPv6 RouterAdvertisement together with routing information for local offloading ofthe newly allocated IPv6 prefix and transmit them to the UE through a UPpath at step 822.

The name of the signaling message used can be changed, and the order ofsome signaling may be changed or signaling may be integrated accordingto requirements such as handover performance optimization.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedure includinga process of adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to or fromthe PDU session when the UE performs the handover, according to anembodiment.

In FIGS. 9A and 9B, an N2-based handover procedure including a processof adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to the PDU session whenthe UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs the handover is described.Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the procedure differs in that theoperation of releasing the additional anchor UPF in the PDU sessionwhich the UE sets up at steps 908 a and 908 b is performed afterreception of the handover request ACK from the target BS at step 906 b.A detailed call flow is illustrated in FIGS. 9A and 9B. Except for thedifference in the time point at which the operation of releasing theadditional anchor UPF is performed, the operation from step 901 to step922 is the same as the operation of steps corresponding to those inFIGS. 8A and 8B.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams of an N2-based handover procedureincluding a process of adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF toor from the PDU session when the UE performs the handover, according toan embodiment.

In FIGS. 10A and 10B, an N2-based handover procedure including a processof adding or releasing the additional anchor UPF to the PDU session whenthe UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs the handover is described.Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, the procedure differs in that theexisting additional anchor UPF is released for the PDU session which thetarget BS successfully sets up at the time point at which the UEcompletes the handover to the target BS at steps 1015 a and 1015 b andthe new additional anchor UPF is added. A detailed call flow isillustrated in FIGS. 10A and 10B. Except for the difference in the timepoint at which the operation of releasing the additional anchor UPF isperformed, the operation from step 1001 to step 1022 is the same as theoperation of steps corresponding to those in FIGS. 8A and 8B or FIGS. 9Aand 9B.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams of a service request procedure includinga process of adding a new additional anchor UPF to the already set upPDU session or releasing the conventionally added additional anchor UPFwhen the UE in a CM-IDLE state performs a service request, according toan embodiment.

In FIGS. 11A and 11B, a service request procedure including a process ofadding the additional anchor UPF for local offloading to the PDU Sessionwhich the UE has already set up or releasing the additional anchor UPF,which has been conventionally added, when the UE in a CM-IDLE stateperforms the service request is described.

Referring to FIGS. 11A and 11B, when the UE is required to activate a UPpath of a specific PDU session due to the generation of uplink datatraffic, the UE transmits a service request message together withidentification information of the corresponding PDU session (e.g., a PDUsession ID) through NAS signaling at step 1101. The NAS signaling istransmitted to the AMF via the RAN, and the RAN may transmit locationinformation and identification information thereof (including a cell ID,a RAN ID, identification information in the unit of tracking areas towhich the BS belongs, and an access type) together with the NASsignaling through an N2 message at step 1102. The AMF having receivedthe N2 message may perform an authentication and encryption procedurewith the UE having transmitted the NAS signaling as necessary at step1103.

Thereafter, the UPF transmits an N11 message for activating a UPtransmission path of the PDU session to the SMF that manages thecorresponding PDU session based on PDU session identificationinformation included in the service request message at step 1104. Here,activating refers to setting up again the UP transmission path, whichhas been released (i.e., allocating resources for the tunnel setup andexchanging information). Further, when network entities of the 5Gnetwork provide a service interface as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, theN11 message may be replaced with an operation of a service provided bythe AMF or the SMF.

The SMF having received the N11 message may determine whether the UEenters a service area of the additional anchor UPF for local offloadingor leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF for thecorresponding PDU Session based on identification information andlocation information of the RAN which the UE currently accesses. When itis determined that the location of the UE accessing the BS pertains tothe service area of the additional anchor UPF, the additional anchor UPFmay be added. Further, when it is determined that the location of the UEaccessing the BS leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF,the additional anchor UPF may be released.

In order to add the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit an N4session establishment request to the corresponding UPF at step 1105 a.The N4 session establishment request may include PDU sessionidentification information of the UE (e.g., the N4 session ID) andinformation on N4 session context to be installed in the UPF. The N4session context information may include a packet detection ruleincluding information on a rule for identifying a packet, which arrivesat the UPF, a forwarding action rule including a rule about packetprocessing (forwarding/drop/buffering), a usage reporting rule forcollecting information on packet charging and usage, and a QoSenforcement rule including information on QoS requirements of thecorresponding PDU session (e.g., maximum rate enforcement). Further,when the SMF allocates a new IP address/prefix, such information may beincluded together. When the UPF having received the N4 sessionestablishment request message sets up a tunnel for the corresponding PDUsession and completes the setup of the association with the IPaddress/prefix, the UPF may transmit an N4 session establishmentresponse to return the generated tunnel identification information(e.g., a TEID) to the SMF at step 1105 b. At this time, identificationinformation (e.g., the N4 session ID) generated to identify thecorresponding PDU session may be transmitted.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session release request to the corresponding UPF at step 1105 a. TheN4 session release request may include information for identifying thePDU session of the UE (e.g., an N4 session ID) and a release causevalue. The release cause may indicate that the UE leaves the servicearea of the corresponding UPF. Further, information for releasing the IPaddress/prefix associated with the corresponding UPF may be alsoincluded. The UPF having received the N4 session release request maydiscard remaining packets of the corresponding PDU session and deletePDU session context including all pieces of tunnel information relatedto the corresponding PDU session and the IP address/prefix. A packetdetection rule, a forwarding action rule, a usage reporting rule, and aQoS enforcement rule related to the PDU session may be also deleted.When the UPF successfully completes the release of the PDU sessioncontext, the UPF may generate an N4 session release response to transmitit to the SMF at step 1105 b. The N4 session release response mayinclude information for identifying the PDU session of the UE such asthe N4 session ID.

Particularly, when the additional anchor UPF is added to the IPv6multi-homed PUD session, the SMF may transmit the IPv6 prefix associatedwith the additional anchor UPF to the UE in addition to the PDU sessionat step 1105 c. The SMF generates a RA message in order to transmit theIPv6 prefix, and the UE may also transmit routing information (e.g., adestination address) for properly selecting the IPv6 allocated to theexisting PDU session and the newly allocated IPv6 prefix. For example,the RA message may include domain information (e.g., fully qualifieddomain name (FQDN)) of content which a local server for local offloadingcan download or an (e.g., 5-tuple-based) IP address range correspondingthereto. The routing information may be provided in advance to the SMFor may be dynamically provided from a PCF that provides a policy for thesession. The IPv6 RA message may be transmitted from the SMF to the UEvia the additional anchor UPF.

Meanwhile, when the additional anchor UPF is released, the SMF mayadditionally generate a message for configuring the IPv6 prefix in orderto invalidate the IPv6 prefix associated with the additional anchor UPF.In order to configure a lifetime of the IPv6 prefix to be invalidated aszero and transmit an IPv6 RA message to the UE, the configuration of theIPv6 prefix may be first transmitted to the remaining anchor UPF (Orig.PSA of FIGS. 11A and 11B) at step 1105 c. When the configuration ofinvalidating the IPv6 prefix is not transmitted to the UE, the SMF maygenerate the RA message for re-configuring the IPv6 prefix associatedwith the remaining anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 11A and 11B) in thePDU session and transmit the generated RA message to the UE. The IPv6 RAmessage may include routing information for the IPv6 prefix that can bestill used and a routing rule for preferentially using the IPv6 prefix.A default route path may be configured or a priority higher than that ofthe IPv6 prefix determined to be invalidated may be configured.

When the additional anchor UPF is added, the PIv6 RA message may begenerated by the SMF and transmitted to the UE via the additional anchorUPF. However, when the additional anchor UPF is released, the PIv6 RAmessage may be generated by the SMF and transmitted to the UE via theadditional anchor UPF or the existing original anchor UPF. When the datatransmission path of the PDU session is not set up, the IPv6 RA messagemay be buffered in the anchor UPF or may be forwarded to theintermediate UPF which can perform buffering. Then, the IPv6 RA messagemay arrive at the UE from the UPF buffering the IPv6 RA message throughthe data transmission path of the corresponding PDU session at a timepoint at which DL data can be transmitted to the UE. Further, when theadditional anchor UPF is released, the IPv6 RA message may be firstgenerated and transmitted to the UE before the N4 session releaseprocedure with the additional anchor UPF. As described above, when thedata transmission path of the PDU session is not set up, the IPv6 RAmessage has been transmitted in advance to the additional anchor UPF andbuffered.

When the SMF manages the PDU session in which a plurality of anchor UPFsincluding the new additional anchor UPF exist, the SMF may additionallyselect an intermediate UPF (e.g., a new I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and 11B) thatprovides a BP/UL CL function for dividing or adding traffic between theBS and the anchor UPF at step 1106. Thereafter, since the operationrelated to the addition of the new intermediate UPF is similar to theprocess at steps 706 a and 706 b, a detailed description thereof will beomitted. In addition, when the additional anchor UPF added to the PDUsession can directly provide the BP or UL CL function, the process ofselecting the new intermediate UPF may be omitted.

Meanwhile, when the additional anchor UPF is released, when the SMFdetermines that there is connectivity between the BS and the remaininganchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 11A and 11B) and there is theintermediate UPF (Old I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and 11B) conventionally set upfor the PDU session, the SMF may configure a timer for performing aprocedure of releasing it. Further, when the SMF knows that DL dataarrives at the corresponding PDU session including the IPv6 RA message(e.g., when the SMF receives a data notification from the UPF), the SMFmay perform the N4 session modification procedure with the remaininganchor UPF. Through the N4 session modification procedure, a tunnelthrough which the existing intermediate UPF (old I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and11B) forwards buffered data to the anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 11Aand 11B) may be set up. Thereafter, the SMF may provide tunnelinformation for forwarding buffered data by performing the N4 sessionmodification procedure with the existing intermediate UPF. The existingintermediate UPF may directly transmit the buffered data through thedata forwarding tunnel set up by the anchor UPF. The SMF mayadditionally configure a timer for releasing the data forwarding tunnel.Meanwhile, when the SMF determines that there is no connectivity betweenthe BS and the remaining anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 11A and 11B) forthe PDU session (e.g., when a direct N3 tunnel cannot be established),the SMF may newly select the intermediate UPF for making theconnectivity with the anchor UPF at step 1106. When the intermediate UPF(old I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and 11B) is already included in the PDU session,the new intermediate UPF (new I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and 11B) may beselected only when there is connectivity between the BS and theintermediate UPF.

The new intermediate UPF may be selected from UPFs having connectivitywith both the BS and the anchor UPF, and the selection of the UPF may beperformed based on various parameters which the SMF can consider such asUE location information, a UPF load state, UPF location information, andUPF capacity. When the SMF selects the intermediate UPF, the SMF mayperform the N4 session setup procedure with the intermediate UPF atsteps 1107 a and 1107 b and perform the N4 session modificationprocedure with the anchor UPF at steps 1108 a and 1108 b in order toupdate a UP transmission path for the PDU session. When there are aplurality of anchor UPFs including the additional anchor UPF in the PDUsession, the SMF may perform the N4 session modification procedure withall of them. The N4 session setup procedure may include a step in whichthe SMF transmits N4 session establishment request signaling includingan identification address of the anchor UPF and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N9 tunnel setup to the intermediate UPF, aswell as a step in which the intermediate UPF transmits N4 sessionestablishment response signaling including an identification address ofthe intermediate UPF and tunnel identification information required bythe intermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setup with the anchor UPF to theSMF. Further, when DL data is generated, the SMF may additionally make arequest for the tunnel setup for forwarding buffered data. Thereafter,through the N4 session modification procedure, the SMF may provideinformation (e.g., the identification information of the intermediateUPF and the tunnel identification information) for the N9 tunnel setupwith the intermediate UPF and information on the buffered dataforwarding tunnel to the anchor UPF. The anchor UPF having received theinformation on the data forwarding tunnel may directly forward thebuffered data to the intermediate UPF at step 1110.

When the intermediate UPF is already included in the PDU session, theSMF may perform an operation related to the N4 session modification withthe existing intermediate UPF instead of the anchor UPF (i.e., steps1108 a and 1108 b instead of steps 1109 a and 1109 b).

Next, the SMF may transmit an N11 message including the PDU sessionidentification information and CN tunnel information for the N3 tunnelsetup between the intermediate UPF and the BS to the AMF at step 1111.Further, when network entities of the 5G network provide a serviceinterface as illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the N11 message may bereplaced with an operation of a service provided by the SMF.

Thereafter, the AMF transmits an N2 request message including the CNtunnel information and the PDU session identification informationreceived from the N11 message to the BS at step 1112. The AMF may alsotransmit an NAS message corresponding to service accept. The BS havingreceived the messages allocates resources for the N3 tunnel setup forthe corresponding session and transmit the NAS message to the UE. The BSand the UE may perform a radio resource control (RRC) connectionreconfiguration to set up a data radio bearer (DRB) that complies withthe QoS rule of the corresponding session at step 1113. When the DRBsetup is completed, the UE may transmit uplink data to the BS. The BSmay transmit an N2 request ACK message including RAN tunnelidentification information allocated for the N3 tunnel to the AMF atstep 1114.

Thereafter, the AMF may transmit a session management (SM) requestmessage including the RAN tunnel information for the N3 tunnel setupincluded in the N2 request ACK message to the corresponding SMF at step1115. Further, when network entities of the 5G network provide a serviceinterface as illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the SM request messagemay be replaced with an operation of a service provided by the AMF orthe SMF.

Thereafter, the SMF may perform a signaling exchange with the PCF toapply a dynamic policy for the PDU session and register a UE location asnecessary at step 1116.

Next, the SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure totransmit the RAN tunnel information to the intermediate UPF at steps1117 a and 1117 b. When there is no change in the intermediate UPF, theprocedure may be performed with the old I-UPF. Transmission of thebuffered DL data including the IPv6 RA message may be started.

Thereafter, the SMF may transmit ACK of the SM request message at step1115 to the AMF at step 1118. Further, when network entities of the 5Gnetwork provide a service interface as illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B,the response to the SM request message may be replaced with an operationof a service provided by the AMF or the SMF.

When the data forwarding tunnel is set up by the SMF, the N4 sessionmodification procedure for releasing the forwarding tunnel may beperformed at a time point of expiration of a timer that is configuredwhen the tunnel is set up at steps 1119 a and 1119 b.

When there is a change in the intermediate UPF from the old I-UPF to thenew I-UPF by the SMF, the SMF may perform an N4 session releaseprocedure with the old I-UPF in order to release PDU session context ofthe old I-UPF if a time configured to release the old UPF expires at atime point at which the new I-UPF is set up at steps 1120 a and 1120 b.

Similarly, the name of the signaling message used can be changed, andthe order of some signaling may be changed or signaling may beintegrated according to requirements such as service request procedureperformance optimization.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams of a service request procedure includinga process of adding a new additional anchor UPF to the inactive PDUsession or releasing the conventionally added additional anchor UPF whenthe UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs a service request for the PDUsession having no UP connection, according to an embodiment.

In FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 13, a service request procedure including aprocess of adding the additional anchor UPF for local offloading to thePDU Session or releasing the additional anchor UPF, which has beenconventionally added, when the UE in a CM-CONNECTED state performs theservice request for the inactive PDU session having no UP connection isdescribed.

Referring to FIGS. 12A and 12B, when the UE is required to configure aUP path of a specific PDU session due to the generation of uplink datatraffic, the UE transmits a service request message together withidentification information of the corresponding PDU session (e.g., a PDUsession ID) through NAS signaling at step 1201. The NAS signaling istransmitted to the AMF via the RAN, and the RAN may transmit locationinformation and identification information thereof (including a cell ID,a RAN ID, identification information in the unit of tracking areas towhich the BS belongs, and an access type) together with the NASsignaling through an N2 message at step 1202.

Then, the AMF transmits an N11 message for activating a UP transmissionpath of the PDU session to the SMF that manages the corresponding PDUsession based on PDU session identification information included in theservice request message at step 1203. Here, activating refers setting upagain the UP transmission path, which has been released (i.e.,allocating resources for the tunnel setup and exchanging information).Further, when network entities of the 5G network provide a serviceinterface as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the N11 message may bereplaced with an operation of a service provided by the AMF or the SMF.

The SMF having received the N11 message may determine whether the UEenters a service area of the additional anchor UPF for local offloadingor leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF for thecorresponding PDU Session based on identification information andlocation information of the RAN which the UE currently accesses. When itis determined that the location of the UE accessing the BS pertains tothe service area of the additional anchor UPF, the additional anchor UPFmay be added. On the other hand, when it is determined that the locationof the UE accessing the BS leaves the service area of the additionalanchor UPF, the additional anchor UPF may be released.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session establishment request to the corresponding UPF at step 1204a. The N4 session establishment request may include PDU sessionidentification information of the UE (e.g., the N4 session ID) andinformation on N4 session context to be installed in the UPF. The N4session context information may include a packet detection ruleincluding information on a rule for identifying a packet, which arrivesat the UPF, a forwarding action rule including a rule about packetprocessing (forwarding/drop/buffering), a usage reporting rule forcollecting information on packet charging and usage, and a QoSenforcement rule including information on QoS requirements of thecorresponding PDU session (e.g., maximum rate enforcement). Further,when the SMF allocates a new IP address/prefix, such information may beincluded together. When the UPF having received the N4 sessionestablishment request message sets up a tunnel for the corresponding PDUsession and completes the setup of the association with the IPaddress/prefix, the UPF may transmit an N4 session establishmentresponse to return the generated tunnel identification information(e.g., a TEID) to the SMF at step 1204 b. Identification information(e.g., the N4 session ID) generated to identify the corresponding PDUsession may be transmitted.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session release request to the corresponding UPF at step 1204 a. TheN4 session release request may include information for identifying thePDU session of the UE (e.g., an N4 session ID) and a release causevalue. The release cause may indicate that the UE leaves the servicearea of the corresponding UPF. Further, information for releasing the IPaddress/prefix associated with the corresponding UPF may be alsoincluded. The UPF having received the N4 session release request maydiscard remaining packets of the corresponding PDU session and deletePDU session context including all pieces of tunnel information relatedto the corresponding PDU session and the IP address/prefix. A packetdetection rule, a forwarding action rule, a usage reporting rule, and aQoS enforcement rule related to the PDU session may be also deleted.When the UPF successfully completes the release of the PDU sessioncontext, the UPF may generate an N4 session release response to transmitit to the SMF at step 1204 b. The N4 session release response mayinclude information for identifying the PDU session of the UE such asthe N4 session ID.

Particularly, when the additional anchor UPF is added to the IPv6multi-homed PDU session, the SMF may transmit the IPv6 prefix associatedwith the additional anchor UPF to the UE in addition to the PDU sessionat step 1204 c. The SMF generates a RA message in order to transmit theIPv6 prefix, and the UE may also transmit routing information (e.g., adestination address) for properly selecting the IPv6 allocated to theexisting PDU session and the newly allocated IPv6 prefix. The RA messagemay include domain information (e.g., FQDN) of content which a localserver for local offloading can download or an (e.g., 5-tuple-based) IPaddress range corresponding thereto. The routing information may beprovided in advance to the SMF or may be dynamically provided from a PCFthat provides a policy for the session. The IPv6 RA message may betransmitted from the SMF to the UE via the additional anchor UPF.

Meanwhile, when the additional anchor UPF is released, the SMF mayadditionally generate a message for establishing the IPv6 prefix inorder to invalidate the IPv6 prefix associated with the additionalanchor UPF. In order to configure a lifetime of the IPv6 prefix to beinvalidated as zero and transmit an IPv6 RA message to the UE, theconfiguration of the IPv6 prefix may be first transmitted to theremaining anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 12A and 12B) at step 1204 c.Additionally, when the configuration of invalidating the IPv6 prefix isnot transmitted to the UE, the SMF may generate the RA message forre-configuring the IPv6 prefix associated with the remaining anchor UPF(Orig. PSA of FIGS. 12A and 12B) in the PDU session and transmit thegenerated RA message to the UE. The IPv6 RA message may include routinginformation for the IPv6 prefix that can be still used and a routingrule for preferentially using the IPv6 prefix. A default route path maybe configured or a priority higher than that of the IPv6 prefixdetermined to be invalidated may be configured.

When the additional anchor UPF is added, the PIv6 RA message may begenerated by the SMF and transmitted to the UE via the additional anchorUPF. However, when the additional anchor UPF is released, the PIv6 RAmessage may be generated by the SMF and transmitted to the UE via theadditional anchor UPF or the existing original anchor UPF. When the datatransmission path of the PDU session is not set up, the IPv6 RA messagemay be buffered in the anchor UPF or may be forwarded to theintermediate UPF which performs buffering. Then, the IPv6 RA message mayarrive at the UE from the UPF buffering the IPv6 RA message through thedata transmission path of the corresponding PUD session at a time pointat which DL data can be transmitted to the UE. The IPv6 RA message maybe first transmitted to the UE before the N4 session release procedurewith the additional anchor UPF. As described above, when the datatransmission path of the PDU session is not set up, the IPv6 RA messagehas been transmitted in advance to the additional anchor UPF andbuffered.

When the SMF manages the PDU session in which a plurality of anchor UPFsincluding the new additional anchor UPF exist, the SMF may additionallyselect an intermediate UPF (e.g., a new I-UPF of FIGS. 12A and 12B) thatprovides a BP/UL CL function for dividing or adding traffic between theBS which the UE accesses and the anchor UPF at step 1205. Thereafter,since the operation related to the addition of the new intermediate UPFis similar to the process at steps 706 a and 706 b, a detaileddescription thereof will be omitted. In addition, when the additionalanchor UPF added to the PDU session can directly provide the BP or UL CLfunction, the process of selecting the new intermediate UPF may beomitted.

Meanwhile, when the additional anchor UPF is released, when the SMFdetermines that there is connectivity between the BS and the remaininganchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 12A and 12B) and there is theintermediate UPF (old I-UPF of FIGS. 12A and 12B) conventionally set upfor the PDU session, the SMF may configure a timer for performing aprocedure of releasing it. Further, when the SMF knows that DL dataarrives at the corresponding PDU session including the IPv6 RA message(e.g., when the SMF receives a data notification from the UPF), the SMFmay perform the N4 session modification procedure with the remaininganchor UPF. Through the N4 session modification procedure, a tunnelthrough which the existing intermediate UPF (old I-UPF of FIGS. 12A and12B) forwards buffered data to the anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 11Aand 11B) may be set up. Thereafter, the SMF may provide tunnelinformation for forwarding buffered data by performing the N4 sessionmodification procedure with the existing intermediate UPF. The existingintermediate UPF may directly transmit the buffered data through thedata forwarding tunnel set up by the anchor UPF. The SMF mayadditionally configure a timer for releasing the data forwarding tunnel.

Meanwhile, when the SMF determines that there is no connectivity betweenthe BS and the remaining anchor UPF (Orig. PSA of FIGS. 12A and 12B) forthe PDU session (e.g., when a direct N3 tunnel cannot be established),the SMF may newly select the intermediate UPF for making theconnectivity between the BS and the anchor UPF at step 1205. When theintermediate UPF (old I-UPF of FIGS. 11A and 11B) is already included inthe PDU session, the new intermediate UPF (new I-UPF of FIGS. 12A and12B) may be selected only when there is no connectivity between the BSand the intermediate UPF.

The new intermediate UPF may be selected from UPFs having connectivitywith both the BS and the anchor UPF, and the selection of the UPF may beperformed based on various parameters which the SMF can consider such asUE location information, a UPF load state, UPF location information, andUPF capacity. When the SMF selects the intermediate UPF, the SMF mayperform the N4 session setup procedure with the intermediate UPF atsteps 1206 a and 1206 b and perform the N4 session modificationprocedure with the anchor UPF at steps 1207 a and 1207 b in order toupdate a UP transmission path for the PDU session. When there are aplurality of anchor UPFs including the additional anchor UPF in the PDUsession, the SMF may perform the N4 session modification procedure withall of them. The N4 session setup procedure may include a step in whichthe SMF transmits N4 session establishment request signaling includingan identification address of the anchor UPF and tunnel identificationinformation required for the N9 tunnel setup to the intermediate UPF, aswell as a step in which the intermediate UPF transmits N4 sessionestablishment response signaling including an identification address ofthe intermediate UPF and tunnel identification information required bythe intermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setup with the anchor UPF to theSMF. Further, when DL data is generated, the SMF may additionally make arequest for the tunnel setup for forwarding buffered data. Thereafter,through the N4 session modification procedure, the SMF may provideinformation (e.g., the identification information of the intermediateUPF and the tunnel identification information) for the N9 tunnel setupwith the intermediate UPF and information on the buffered dataforwarding tunnel to the anchor UPF. The anchor UPF having received theinformation on the data forwarding tunnel may directly forward thebuffered data to the intermediate UPF at step 1209.

When the intermediate UPF is already included in the PDU session, theSMF may perform an operation related to the N4 session modification withthe existing intermediate UPF instead of the anchor UPF (i.e., steps1207 a and 1207 b instead of steps 1208 a and 1208 b).

Next, the SMF may transmit an N11 message including the PDU sessionidentification information and CN tunnel information for the N3 tunnelsetup between the intermediate UPF and the BS to the AMF at step 1210.Further, when network entities of the 5G network provide a serviceinterface as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the N11 message may bereplaced with an operation of a service provided by the AMF or the SMF.

Thereafter, the AMF transmits an N2 request message including the CNtunnel information and the PDU session identification informationreceived from the N11 message to the BS at step 1211. The AMF may alsotransmit an NAS message corresponding to service accept. The BS havingreceived the messages allocates resources for the N3 tunnel setup forthe corresponding session and transmit the NAS message to the UE. Atthis time, the BS and the UE may perform an RRC connectionreconfiguration to set up a DRB that complies with the QoS rule of thecorresponding session at step 1212. When the DRB setup is completed, theUE may transmit uplink data to the BS. The BS may transmit an N2 requestACK message including RAN tunnel identification information allocatedfor the N3 tunnel to the AMF at step 1213.

Thereafter, the AMF may transmit an SM request message including the RANtunnel information for the N3 tunnel setup included in the N2 requestACK message to the corresponding SMF at step 1214. Further, when networkentities of the 5G network provide a service interface as illustrated inFIGS. 12A and 12B, the SM request message may be replaced with anoperation of a service provided by the SMF.

Thereafter, the SMF may perform a signaling exchange with the PCF toapply a dynamic policy for the PDU session and register a UE location asnecessary at step 1215.

Next, the SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure totransmit the RAN tunnel information to the intermediate UPF at steps1216 a and 1216 b. When there is no change in the intermediate UPF, theprocedure may be performed with the old I-UPF. Transmission of thebuffered DL data including the IPv6 RA message may be started.

Thereafter, the SMF may transmit ACK of the SM request message at step1214 to the AMF at step 1217. Further, when network entities of the 5Gnetwork provide a service interface as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B,the response to the SM request message may be also replaced with anoperation of a service provided by the SMF.

When the data forwarding tunnel is set up by the SMF, the N4 sessionmodification procedure for releasing the forwarding tunnel may beperformed at a time point of expiration of a timer set up when thetunnel is set up at steps 1218 a and 1218 b.

When there is a change in the intermediate UPF from the old I-UPF to thenew I-UPF by the SMF, the SMF may perform an N4 session releaseprocedure with the old I-UPF in order to release PDU session context ofthe old I-UPF if a time configured to release the old UPF expires at atime point at which the new I-UPF is set up at steps 1219 a and 1219 b.

Similarly, the name of the signaling message used can be changed, andthe order of some signaling may be changed or signaling may beintegrated according to requirements such as service request procedureperformance optimization.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an NW triggered service request procedure in the5G cellular network, according to an embodiment.

It is possible to add or release the additional anchor UPF for localoffloading to or from the already set up PDU Session based on a NWtriggered service request procedure. As illustrated in FIG. 13, whendownlink data traffic arrives from a DN (e.g., Internet or a localserver), the UE in a CM-IDLE state may transit to a CM-CONNECTED stateor a procedure required for transmitting DL traffic may be performed ina state in which the UE is in the CM-CONNECTED state but the UPconnection of the PDU session to which the DL traffic belongs isdeactivated.

Specifically, the UPF may receive DL traffic at step 1301 and transmitDL data notification signaling indicating that DL data arrives at theSMF that manages the corresponding PDU session at step 1302 a. Formanagement of a plurality of PDU sessions for the same UE, the SMF mayalso include an ID of the PDU session. The UPF may receive ACK of the DLdata notification signaling from the SMF at step 1302 b. The DL datanotification message may be forwarded from the SMF to the AMF thatmanages mobility of the UE through the N11 message at step 1303 a. TheSMF may receive ACK of the N11 message from the AMF at step 1303 b or1306. Thereafter, the AMF may store SMF that transmits the DL datanotification and PDU session identification information. When the SMFreceives information indicating that the UE is unreachable or that theUE is reachable only for regulatory prioritized service from the AMF,the SMF may transmit a failure indication to the UPF at step 1303 c.

The AMF may perform paging for the UE in the CM-IDLE state at steps 1304and 1305 and thus the UE may perform the service request described inthe sixth embodiment in response to the paging at step 1307. The SMFhaving recognized the location of the UE may determine whether the UEenters a service area of the additional anchor UPF for local offloadingor leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF for the PDUsession. When it is determined that the location of the UE pertains tothe service area of the additional anchor UPF, the additional anchor UPFmay be added. On the other hand, when it is determined that the locationof the UE leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF, trafficreceived from the additional anchor UPF may be dropped and a procedurefor releasing the additional anchor UPF may be performed.

When the UE is in the CM-CONNECTED state, the AMF may transmit locationinformation of the UE to the SMF without paging. The SMF havingrecognized the location of the UE may determine whether the UE enters aservice area of the additional anchor UPF for local offloading or leavesthe service area of the additional anchor UPF for the PDU session. Whenit is determined that the location of the UE pertains to the servicearea of the additional anchor UPF, the additional anchor UPF may beadded. On the other hand, when it is determined that the location of theUE leaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF, trafficreceived from the additional anchor UPF may be dropped and a procedurefor releasing the corresponding UPF may be performed.

The procedure in which the SMF adds or releases the additional anchorUPF to or from the PDU session which the UE sets up may be performedbased on the process according to the sixth embodiment of the seventhembodiment.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are diagrams of a registration procedure in the 5Gcellular network, according to an embodiment.

In FIGS. 14A and 14B, a registration procedure in the 5G cellularnetwork is described. The UE may perform a registration process with the5G network to acquire a right to use a service provided by the 5Gcellular network, detect the location of the UE in the 5G network, orprovide a service. The registration may be performed through theregistration procedure illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B, wherein aninitial registration may be performed when a registration is initiallyperformed in the 5G network, a mobility registration may be performedwhen the UE in the CM-IDLE state leaves an allocated registration area(e.g., a list of areas in the unit of TAs), and a periodic registrationmay be performed when a periodic registration timer expires. In order toperform registration in the network, the UE transmits a registrationrequest message to the network at step 1401 and the (R)AN selects a newAMF at step 1402 and transmits the registration request message to theAMF at step 1403. The new AMF may receive information on the UE from theold AMF which has been in charge of the UE at steps 1404 to 1405. Whenthe new AMF does not receive a UE ID such as a subscriber permanentidentifier (SUPI) from the old AMF, the new AMF may make a request forthe UE ID to the UE and receive it from the UE at steps 1406 to 1407.The new AMF selects an authentication server function (AUSF) in order toauthenticate the UE and generate a security key and perform anauthentication/security procedure at steps 1408 to 1410. The new AMP maycheck a permanent equipment identity (PEI) of the UE through anequipment identifier repository (EIR) at steps 1411 to 1412. The new AMFselects a user data management (UDM) in order to load subscriptioninformation of the UE and loads the UE subscription information from theUDM at steps 1413 to 1414 c. Further, the new AMF selects a PCF in orderto load network policy information of the UE and loads the networkpolicy information of the UE at steps 1415 to 1417. When the AMF ischanged and the old AMF has UE association with a non 3GPP inter-workingfunction (N3IWF), the new AMF informs the N3IWF of the change in the AMFand release NG application protocol (NGAP) UE association with the oldAMF at steps 1418 to 1419. Association between the old AMF and the PCFis deleted at step 1420. When all the procedures are successfullyperformed, the UE transmits a registration accept message in order toinform of success of the registration at steps 1421 to 1422.

Some of the procedures illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B may be omittedwhen the mobility registration or the periodic registration isperformed. Through the registration process, the UE may update its owncapability information in the 5G network and negotiate variousparameters with the 5G network.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of a registration procedure including a process ofreleasing the conventionally added additional anchor UPF from thealready set up PDU session when the UE in the CM-IDLE state performs theregistration procedure, according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 15, a registration procedure including a process of releasingthe additional anchor UPF which has been conventionally added to the PDUsession that has been already set up when the UE in the CM-IDLE stateperforms the registration procedure is described. As illustrated in FIG.15, a procedure may be additionally performed during the process (step1501) of performing the registration procedure as shown in FIGS. 12A,12B and 13.

First, the AMF may provide a service of notifying of a location changeof the UE. The SMF that manages the PDU session of the UE may newlysubscribe to the notification service when the additional anchor UPF isadded to the PDU session or, when the SMF has already subscribed and thelocation of the UE is changed based on a service area of the additionalanchor UPF, may update subscription information to receive anotification. When the location of the UE leaves the service area of theadditional anchor UPF, the AMF may notify the SMF of an event togetherwith new location information of the UE.

The AMF may transmit the notification of the location change of the UEto the SMF through an N11 message at step 1502. Further, when networkentities of the 5G network provide a service interface as illustrated inFIGS. 14A and 14B, the N11 message may be also replaced with anoperation of a service provided by the AMF (e.g., step 1417 of FIG.14B).

The SMF having received the N11 message may determine whether the UEleaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF (e.g., PSA2 of FIG.15) of the corresponding PDU Session based on identification informationand location information of the RAN which the UE currently accesses.When it is determined that the location of the UE accessing the BSleaves the service area of the additional anchor UPF, the additionalanchor UPF may be released.

In order to release the additional anchor UPF, the SMF may transmit anN4 session release request to the corresponding UPF at step 1503 a. TheN4 session release request may include information for identifying thePDU session of the UE (e.g., an N4 session ID) and a release causevalue. The release cause may indicate that the UE leaves the servicearea of the corresponding UPF. Further, information for releasing the IPaddress/prefix associated with the corresponding UPF may be alsoincluded. The UPF having received the N4 session release request maydiscard remaining packets of the corresponding PDU session and deletePDU session context including all pieces of tunnel information relatedto the corresponding PDU session and the IP address/prefix. When the UPFsuccessfully completes the release of the PDU session context, the UPFmay generate an N4 session release response to transmit it to the SMF atstep 1503 b. The N4 session release response may include information foridentifying the PDU session of the UE such as the N4 session ID.

Thereafter, an intermediate UPF (e.g., new I-UPF of FIG. 15) for makingconnectivity between the target BS and the original anchor UPF (e.g.,PSA1 of FIG. 15) may be selected. The intermediate UPF may be selectedfrom UPFs having connectivity with both the target BS and the anchor UPF(e.g., PSA1 of FIG. 15), and the selection of the UPF may be performedbased on various parameters which the SMF can consider such as UElocation information, a UPF load state, UPF location information, andUPF capacity.

When the SMF selects the intermediate UPF, the SMF may perform the N4session setup procedure with the intermediate UPF at steps 1504 a and1504 b and perform the N4 session modification procedure with the anchorUPF at steps 1505 a and 1505 b in order to update a UP transmission pathfor the PDU session. The N4 session setup procedure may include a stepin which the SMF transmits N4 session establishment request signalingincluding an identification address of the anchor UPF and tunnelidentification information required for the N9 tunnel setup to theintermediate UPF, as well as a step in which the intermediate UPFtransmits N4 session establishment response signaling including anidentification address of the intermediate UPF and tunnel identificationinformation required by the intermediate UPF for the N9 tunnel setupwith the anchor UPF to the SMF. Thereafter, through the N4 sessionmodification procedure, the SMF may provide information (e.g., theidentification information of the intermediate UPF and the tunnelidentification information) for the N9 tunnel setup with theintermediate UPF to the anchor UPF at steps 1505 a and 1505 b.

When the intermediate UPF (e.g., old I-UPF of FIG. 15) is alreadyincluded in the PDU Session, if the old I-UPF is changed to a new I-UPF,the SMF may perform the N4 session release procedure with the old I-UPFat steps 1506 a and 1506 b. If the intermediate UPF included in the PDUsession is not changed, the SMF may perform the N4 session modificationprocedure with the intermediate UPF at steps 1506 a and 1506 b. The SMFmay remove a (e.g., 5-tuple-based) routing filter rule for the BP/UL CLfunction configured in the intermediate UPF.

Thereafter, at step 1507, the SMF may respond to the N11 messagetransmitted at step 1502. When network entities of the 5G networkprovide a service interface, the N11 message transmitted by the SMF maybe replaced with the operation of the service provided by the SMF.

The N11 message may include not only identification information of thecorresponding PDU session but also information for invalidating the IPv6prefix associated with the additional anchor UPF in the case of an IPv6multi-homed PDU session. Information on the IPv6 prefix may be includedin the registration accept message which the AMF transmits to the UE.

Thereafter, the AMF may perform the remaining procedures required forcompleting the registration at step 1508, which may correspond to, forexample, steps 1418 to 1422 of FIG. 14B.

When the SMF releases the additional anchor UPF with which the IPv6prefix is associated and then does not include information thereon inthe N11 message, which is transmitted to the AMF, the release may not benotified of to the UE and, thereafter, the following operation may beperformed.

After the additional anchor UPF is released, the UE may transmit uplinkdata using the invalid IPv6 prefix. The data arrive at the remaining(original) anchor UPF in the corresponding PDU session. The anchor UPFmay determine that a source IP address of corresponding data is notvalid and thus may generate an ICMPv6 error message of configuring codeno. 5 (source address failed ingress/egress policy) of the message“destination unreachable” and transmit it to the UE. The UE havingreceived the error message may recognize that the IP prefix cannot beused and transmit data using another IP prefix. When there are aplurality of IP prefixes, an IP prefix that matches a destinationaddress may be selected based on an IP routing table.

Additionally, for the RA message including invalidation information ofthe IP prefix, which the SMR transmits to the UE, the NW triggeredservice request described in FIG. 13 may be performed. The SMF maytransmit a data notification to the AMF together with identificationinformation of the PDU session. When the UP connection for the PDUsession is completed (i.e. activation), the SMF may transmit the IPv6 RAmessage to the UE via the remaining anchor UPF through the datatransmission path.

Further, the IPv6 prefix corresponds to the PDU Session in the IPv6 typebut, when the procedure is applied to the cellular system in which IPv4multi-homing is supported, the IPv6 prefix may be replaced with an IPv4address if the PDU session in the IPv4 type is used.

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a registration procedure including a process ofreleasing the conventionally added additional anchor UPF from thealready set up PDU session and a process of transmitting a notificationto the UE when the UE in the CM-IDLE state performs the registrationprocedure, according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 16, a method by which the SMF notifies the UE of an associatedIP prefix through signaling connection when the SMF that manages aspecific PDU session removes the additional anchor UPF with which the IPprefix is associated in the PDU session is described. FIG. 16 includes aprocedure in which the SMF releases the additional anchor UPF when theregistration procedure is performed (steps 1601 to 1608 may correspondto steps 1501 to 1508 of FIG. 15). The SMF may transmit such a fact tothe AMF through the N11 message and the AMF may notify the UE ofinformation received from the SMF through the N11 message at step 1609.Further, the AMF may receive a registration complete message from the UEat step 1610. Specifically, the N11 message may include N1 SMinformation to be transmitted to the UE.

The N1 SM information may be defined by the following message. First,information indicating to no longer use the IP prefix associated withthe released additional anchor UPF may be included.

Second, information indicating that the anchor UPF corresponding to thereleased additional anchor UPF is released may be included. The UEshould manage mapping information of the anchor UPF newly allocatedwhenever the PDU session is set up and the anchor UPF is added. Whenreceiving information indicating that a specific anchor UPF is releasedfrom the SMF, the UE may release the corresponding anchor UPF andoperate to not use the IP prefix associated therewith any more.

The two methods may be embodied through a method such as inter-processcommunication (IPC) between a control plane layer implemented in themodem of the UE and an IP routing layer implemented in the OS of the UE.

Third, information making a request for activating the PDU session towhich the released additional anchor UPF belongs may be included. Whenreceiving the N1 SM information, the UE may perform a procedure ofsetting up the UP connection of the corresponding PDU session bydirectly performing the service request. When the data transmission pathof the PDU session is completely configured, the SMF may transmitinformation on invalidation of the IPv6 prefix associated with thereleased anchor UPF to the UE through the IPv6 RA message.

In order to invalidate the IPv6 prefix, the SMF may configure the IPv6prefix to be invalidated and a router lifetime field as zero in the IPv6RA message and transmit the IPv6 RA message. When receiving the IPv6 RAmessage, the UE may configure an invalidation timer value with referenceto the router lifetime field. If the router lifetime field is configuredas zero, the UE may change the corresponding IP prefix to an invalidimmediately upon receiving the RA message state and may not use it.

In order to invalidate the IPv6 prefix, the SMF may configure the IPv6prefix to be invalidated and a valid lifetime value of a prefixinformation option as zero in the IPv6 RA message and transmit the IPv6RA message. When receiving the IPv6 RA message, the UE may configure aninvalidation timer value with reference to the valid lifetime value inthe prefix information option. If the valid lifetime value is configuredas zero, the UE may change the corresponding IP prefix to an invalidstate immediately upon receiving the RA message and may not use it.

In order to invalidate the IPv6 prefix, the SMF may configure a validIPv6 prefix (i.e., the IP prefix associated with the remaining anchorUPF in the corresponding PDU session) as a default router and configurepreference as high in the IPv6 RA message, and transmit the IPv6 RAmessage. Since the UE can preferentially use the valid IPv6 prefix uponreceiving the IPv6 RA message, the UE may not use the invalid IPv6prefix.

In order to invalidate the IPv6 prefix, the SMF may use the followingmethod. When the additional anchor UPF for local offloading isadditionally allocated to a specific PDU session, the SMF may generatean IPV6 RA message to allocate the IPv6 prefix associated with theadditional anchor UPF to the UE. In the IPv6 RA message, a finite valuelarger than 0 may be configured in the router lifetime field togetherwith the newly allocated IPv6 prefix. The UE having received the IPv6prefix may use the IPv6 prefix only for a specific time with referenceto the router lifetime field. In order to continuously use the IPv6prefix over a time configured in the router lifetime field, the SMFshould transmit the IPv6 RA message for extending the lifetime to theUE. Accordingly, by not transmitting the IPv6 RA message for extendingthe lifetime after the additional anchor UPF is released, the SMF mayprevent the UE from using the corresponding IPv6 prefix after thelifetime expires.

Further, the IPv6 prefix corresponds to the PDU session in the IPv6 typebut, when the procedure is applied to the cellular system in which IPv4multi-homing is supported, the IPv6 prefix may be replaced with an IPv4address if the PDU session in the IPv4 type is used.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of an operation of the UPF when a data packethaving an invalidated IPv6 prefix configured as a departure IP addressarrives at the UPF from which an IP header can be identified, accordingto an embodiment.

In FIG. 17, a scheme in which the UE receives the IPv6 prefix associatedwith the additional anchor UPF in a specific PDU Session but processesgenerated data in the cellular network through the (invalidated) IPv6prefix after the additional anchor UPF is released by the SMF isdescribed. The UPF may be an IP anchor UPF or a UPF having the BP or ULCL function that performs a traffic routing function.

The UPF may receive data having a predetermined IPv6 prefix configuredas a departure IP address at step 1705. The UPF may determine whetherthe data packet uses a valid IP address at step 1710. When the UPF usesthe valid IP address, the UPF may forward the data packet to anext-stage UPF or a router of the Internet network located outside thecellular network in order to transmit the data packet to a destinationspecified in a destination IP address at step 1715. When the UPF uses aninvalid IP address, the UPF may drop the data packet and transmit anotification including the invalid IP address and corresponding PDUsession identification information to the SMF that manages thecorresponding PDU session at step 1720.

FIG. 18 is a diagram of an operation of the SMF receiving a notificationmessage for the use of the invalid IP address from the UPF, according toan embodiment.

The SMF receives a notification message for the use of the invalid IPaddress from the UPF at step 1805. When receiving the notification, theSMF may determine whether the corresponding IP prefix is an IP prefixwhich the SMF has conventionally allocated for the corresponding PDUsession of the UE at step 1810. When the IP prefix is not the IP prefixwhich has been conventionally allocated, the SMF may ignore thenotification message at step 1815. However, when it is determined thatthe IP prefix has been conventionally allocated, the following step maybe additionally performed. At step 1820, it is determined whether theSMF releases the additional anchor UPF associated with IP prefix and thenotification thereon has been already transmitted to the UE. When thenotification has been already transmitted to the UE, the correspondingmessage may be ignored like at step 1815. However, when the additionalanchor UPF has been released but the notification thereon has not beentransmitted to the UE yet, the SMF may generate a notification messagefor invalidating the corresponding IP prefix and transmit it through theIPv6 RA message to the UE at step 1825.

Further, the IPv6 prefix corresponds to the PDU session in the IPv6 typebut, when the procedure is applied to the cellular system in which IPv4multi-homing is supported, the IPv6 prefix may be replaced with an IPv4address if the PDU session in the IPv4 type is used.

FIG. 19 is a diagram of a structure of the UE, according to anembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 19, the UE may include a transceiver 1910, acontroller 1920, and a storage unit 1930. The controller is a physicalelement and may be defined as a circuit, an application-specificintegrated circuit, or at least one processor.

The transceiver 1910 may transmit/receive a signal to/from anothernetwork entity. The transceiver 1910 may receive system information fromthe BS and receive a synchronization signal or a reference signal.

The controller 1920 may control the overall operation of the UE. Thecontroller 1920 may control a signal flow between blocks to perform theoperations/steps described above. The controller 1920 may control theoperation in order to receive remaining system information (RMSI) in amultibeam-based system.

The storage unit 1930 may store at least one piece of informationtransmitted/received through the transceiver 1910 and informationgenerated through the controller 1920. The storage unit 1930 may storescheduling information related to RMSI transmission, a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) time axis location related to the RMSI, andperiod information of the RMSI.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a structure of the BS, according to anembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 20, the BS may include a transceiver 2010, acontroller 2020, and a storage unit 2030. The controller may be definedas a circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit, or at leastone processor.

The transceiver 2010 may transmit/receive a signal to/from anothernetwork entity. The transceiver 2010 may transmit system information tothe UE and transmit a synchronization signal or a reference signal.

The controller 2020 may control the overall operation of the BS. Thecontroller 2020 may control a signal flow between blocks to perform theoperations/steps described above. The controller 2020 may control theoperation in order to transmit the RMSI in a multibeam-based system.

The storage unit 2030 may store at least one piece of informationtransmitted/received through the transceiver 2010 and informationgenerated through the controller 2020. The storage unit 2030 may storescheduling information related to RMSI transmission, a PDCCH time axislocation related to the RMSI, and period information of the RMSI.

Not only the UE and the BS but also each of the devices (e.g., the AMF,the SMF, or the UPF) included in the network system may include thetransceiver, the controller, and the storage unit.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented bysoftware including an instruction stored in a machine-readable storagemedia readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The machine may be adevice that calls the instruction from the machine-readable storagemedia and operates depending on the called instruction and may includethe electronic device. When the instruction is executed by theprocessor, the processor may perform a function corresponding to theinstruction directly or using other components under the control of theprocessor. The instruction may include a code generated or executed by acompiler or an interpreter. The machine-readable storage media may beprovided in the form of non-transitory storage media. Here, the term“non-transitory”, as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself(i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on datastorage persistency.

According to an embodiment, the method according to various embodimentsdisclosed in the present disclosure may be provided as a part of acomputer program product. The computer program product may be tradedbetween a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program productmay be distributed in the form of machine-readable storage medium (e.g.,a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM)) or may be distributed onlythrough an application store (e.g., a Play Store™). In the case ofonline distribution, at least a portion of the computer program productmay be temporarily stored or generated in a storage medium such as amemory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or arelay server.

Each component (e.g., the module or the program) according to variousembodiments may include at least one of the above components, and aportion of the above sub-components may be omitted, or additional othersub-components may be further included. Alternatively or additionally,some components may be integrated in one component and may perform thesame or similar functions performed by each corresponding componentsprior to the integration. Operations performed by a module, aprogramming, or other components according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be executed sequentially, in parallel,repeatedly, or in a heuristic method. Also, at least some operations maybe executed in different sequences, omitted, or other operations may beadded.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tocertain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the scopeof the disclosure should not be defined as being limited to theembodiments, but should be defined by the appended claims andequivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a session managementfunction (SMF) entity in a wireless communication system, the methodcomprising: allocating a first protocol data unit (PDU) session anchorat a procedure for establishing a PDU session on a user equipment (UE);and allocating a second PDU session anchor for selective traffic routingto a data network, the second PDU session anchor being associated withthe PDU session, wherein the first PDU session anchor is associated witha service and session continuity (SSC) mode of the PDU session, andwherein the second PDU session anchor is independent of the SSC mode ofthe PDU session.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingmaintaining the first PDU session anchor regardless of a mobility of theUE in case that the SSC mode of the PDU session is SCC mode
 1. 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising releasing the second PDU sessionanchor based on a mobility of the UE.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinreleasing the second PDU session anchor comprises: identifying whetherthe UE is located out of a service coverage of the second PDU sessionanchor; and releasing the second PDU session anchor regardless of theSSC mode of the PDU session, in case that the UE is located out of theservice coverage of the second PDU session anchor.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein maintaining the first PDU session anchor comprises:identifying whether the UE is located out of a service coverage of thefirst PDU session anchor; and adding an intermediate PDU session anchorfor data forwarding between the first PDU session anchor and the UE. 6.A session management function (SMF) entity in a wireless communicationsystem, the SMF entity comprising: a transceiver; and a controllercoupled with the transceiver and configured to: allocate a firstprotocol data unit (PDU) session anchor at a precedure for establishinga PDU session on a user equipment (UE), and allocate a second PDUsession anchor for selective traffic routing to a data network, thesecond PDU session anchor being associated with the PDU session, whereinthe first PDU session anchor is associated with a service and sessioncontinuity (SSC) mode of the PDU session, and wherein the second PDUsession anchor is independent of the SSC mode of the PDU session.
 7. TheSMF entity of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to:maintain the first PDU session anchor regardless of a mobility of the UEin case that the SSC mode of the PDU session is SSC mode
 1. 8. The SMFentity of claim 6, wherein the controller is further configured to:release the second PDU session anchor based on a mobility of the UE. 9.The SMF entity of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configuredto: identify whether the UE is located out of a service coverage of thesecond PDU session anchor, and release the second PDU session anchorregardless of the SSC mode of the PDU session, in case that the UE islocated out of the service coverage of the second PDU session anchor.10. The SMF entity of claim 7, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: identify whether the UE is located out of a servicecoverage of the first PDU session anchor, and add an intermediate PDUsession anchor for data forwarding between the first PDU session anchorand the UE.